Lost Blue
by LoonRider
Summary: Joe Gibken turned against Zangyack. He really didn't expect what happened afterwards. Second in the Gokaiger origins series!
1. Crewmates

**Hello again! Forever and a day since I began this series, we're finally on to the second fic! This one will contain more original content, as I have quite a bit more to play with now that I have two (technically three) characters aboard the Galleon.**

Spoilers: None, unless you count the flashbacks in episodes 11 and 12. This chapter starts just after Joe is given the blue Gokaiger key and his own mobirate.

#

There was no shortage of strange people among the Zangyack soldiers; a bizarre mix was inevitable with the variety of planets their recruits came from. Still, Joe didn't think any of them quite matched up to the bewildering stranger who'd just electrocuted himself for a man he'd known for all of nine minutes. Maybe that was why Joe had agreed to follow him so quickly... or maybe Joe himself was just as strange.

He looked at the device in his hand, the one the stranger had called a mobirate. "Kinda bulky, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I didn't build 'em." The pirate chuckled, head turning towards Joe again. "I'm Marvelous, by the way... Well, I guess Captain Marvelous, now."

Joe nodded. "I know who you are. I've seen the posters... one of the Red Pirates, right?"

A dark look flicked over Marvelous' face, and he looked back at the sky. "I was. They've been destroyed... I'm the Captain for a new crew now." He glanced at Joe... no, at the blue key Joe was holding. "The Gokaigers."

The former Zangyack knew when to leave a subject alone. "Small crew so far, with just two of us... My name's Joe. Joe Gibken. I'd shake your hand, but..." He tensed his muscles, managed to lift his free arm a few inches before it gave up and flopped to the dirt again.

Marvelous laughed. "Yeah. You weren't kidding about the electricity..." He twitched and clenched his fingers, apparently testing out the effects on his muscles. "Hope this wears off soon."

"Marvelous!" Joe blinked. The surprises were just piling up today, as a robotic parrot descended and landed with a thud on Marvelous' chest. "Marvelous! Are you okay?"

The captain sighed, making a half-hearted attempt to swat her away. "I'm fine, Bird. Don't make a fuss."

"I'm not a bird!" She hopped back to avoid his minimal movement before looking at Joe. "Hi! I heard you introduce yourself. Nice to meet you, Joe! I'm Navi!"

Okay. "Nice to meet you." Robot parrot. He'd seen stranger things, he supposed. None came to mind at the moment.

"We better get moving, though." Navi took off, flying small circles around the two of them. "There're more Zangyack patrols going around in the city. They might come looking."

"That's easy for you to say." Marvelous strained to move again, sighed. "Keep an eye out, Bird. We'll see about the whole moving thing."

It took the better part of eight minutes for the two men to be able to stand, but the more they moved, the easier it got. By the time they reached the mountain pass leading to Marvelous' ship, they'd fully recovered, though Joe kept lifting a hand to his neck and pausing. He couldn't quite believe it. He was free. Sure, Zangyack members would still leap at the chance to kill him, but they couldn't track him wherever he went. He had a chance.

"Oy, you spacing out?" Marvelous' voice brought him back to the present, his hand returning to his side.

"No, just thinking." It didn't take long for him to realize why Marvelous had known he wasn't paying attention: they'd reached the ship. And he couldn't deny its magnificence. No wonder the Red Pirates had been such trouble for Zangyack. He looked at Marvelous with a smile. "Impressive."

Marvelous grinned. "It's called the Gokai Galleon. Suitable for a couple space pirates, huh?" He flipped open his mobirate and tapped in a button sequence. The steel guard doors over the ship's exits slid open, and two chains dropped from the black circle on its belly. Marvelous grabbed one, Joe took the other, Navi flying up beside them as the chains drew them into the ship.

They ended up in a large storage and engine area, but Marvelous led him up past some of the crew cabins into the main quarters. Navi immediately flew to a console next to the stairs. Marvelous eyed her. "Well, Bird? Is the auto repair done?"

"Yep! We're good to go!"

She started tapping buttons, and Joe looked at his new captain. "Marvelous, something I wanted to ask."

"Hm?"

"You said you had a dream, but you didn't tell me what it was."

Marvelous smiled. "You're asking now, after you signed up? For all you know, you could've agreed to help me blow up a planet."

Figured he'd fall in with a comedian. Joe couldn't help smiling back. "Doesn't sound like your style."

"You're right." Marvelous' face turned serious, and he moved to stand beside a small table, his hand resting on a treasure chest that sat on top. "The greatest treasure in the universe... That's my dream." He smirked, then. "We're gonna find it."

Joe's eyebrows furrowed. He'd heard stories of it. Hell, there probably wasn't anyone who'd travelled in space and hadn't at least heard it mentioned. "I thought it was a myth."

"So did I, but it's real." Marvelous opened the chest and removed something... It was a key like the one he'd given Joe, but this one was white with red accents, a red spade on the helmet. "A friend of mine told me about it. These things... the ranger keys, they're the keys to obtaining it."

Joe picked up another of the keys, this one was blue with a claw emblem on the chest. "That's all they do?"

Marvelous frowned. "Well, apparently they were used originally to transform people into these suits, that's how the one I gave you works." He turned the spade headed key around in his hand. "Haven't tried using one of these ones yet."

"They'll work!" Both men jumped as Navi dropped between them to land on the captain's chair. "Any of the keys will work in the mobirates!"

"And when were you gonna tell me that, Bird?" Marvelous looked like he might swat the robot, but he paused. "How's that work? We can't carry them all with us."

"No problem!" She batted the two keys out of their hands and back into the chest before closing it. "I can connect your suit belts to the chest so you can summon them through your buckles! It's called Key Road."

This time Marvelous did knock her on the head, though it seemed more affectionate than anything. "Y'know, you've become awful useful lately."

"I've always been useful! You'd never have gotten them all without me!" She turned away with a huff, but only for a second before she looked back at them... At Joe specifically. She was grouchy with Marvelous, the ex-Zangyack figured. "You gotta transform for me to connect you."

Joe looked down at the key and mobirate, still in his hand, and opened the latter to find a keyhole. He then shot a glance at Marvelous, who'd taken out his own. "Like this. Gokai Change!" Barely a second later, he was GokaiRed.

Joe nodded, flipping the cover off his key's base. "Gokai Change!" It was a strange sensation, the sudden power that came with transforming. He had a feeling he'd have plenty of chances to get used to it.

"Looks good on you, Joe!" Navi flew a quick circle around him before heading to the chest. "Okay, let's get you connected!" Her beak tapped against the chest's lock, creating a rainbow string that she pulled to his buckle, and it disappeared. She did the same for Marvelous. "Now try summoning those keys you had earlier!"

Marvelous paused a moment, then tapped the button on top of the buckle. The gold section spun, revealing the spade-headed key. He grabbed it and turned it around in his hand. "Spade Ace, nice." He glanced at Joe. "The one you had is called AbareBlue."

Interesting name. Joe pictured the claw emblem, focusing on blue, and tapped the button. The AbareBlue ranger key was right where it was supposed to be. He took it out and studied it. "So we can use any of them?"

"Yep! As long as you know which key you want, you can summon it!" Navi opened the chest, and they returned the Spade Ace and AbareBlue keys to their place.

Joe eyed the sheer number of keys inside the chest. Guess he was going to be spending some time learning the names and abilities of each key... He glanced down at his own suit and, after a second, decided he'd start with the blue ones.

Marvelous clapped his hands. "Well, time to get off this rock." He pulled out the GokaiRed key and looked at Joe. "Just relax and you'll return to normal. I'll be in the cockpit. The bird'll teach you how to work the scanners. Keep an eye out for Zangyack in orbit." And he was up the stairs and gone.

Joe eyed the GokaiBlue suit, shut his eyes, and exhaled. When he looked again, the suit had vanished.

"Over here!" Navi had flown back to the console, and he moved to stand behind it as the ship rumbled to life under his feet. She tapped a few buttons and brought up a full scan of the space above them on the view screen. "Scanners are working perfectly now! We took some damage a little while ago, that's why we had to land on Novissimum."

Joe leaned over the console, studying the display and the buttons to figure out their function. "Lucky for me."

Navi paused. "… Yeah. I guess it was, wasn't it?"

Near as he could interpret a robot, she seemed intrigued. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing! Just glad we were able to help out a stranger." … Well that response made no sense. Before he could say so, though, she tapped a few more buttons. "Marvelous, we're clear to leave!" That switch was the communication to the cockpit, then.

Marvelous' voice returned from a speaker in the console. "Hey, Joe, keep an eye on things. Don't let the bird boss you around, huh?"

"I'm not a bird!"

Joe smiled. Already he felt better taking orders from Marvelous than he ever had taking orders from his Zangyack superiors. "Right."

Leaving Novissimum was… strange. Joe watched it recede on the viewscreen for several long seconds, even after he'd confirmed that no Zangyack ships had come after them. It had been his first and last assignment as a member of the elite Imperial force. Now he was leaving the doomed planet as a pirate, rather than being left as a corpse on its dirt. Definitely not how he'd expected his day to go.

"You're spacing out again." His eyes snapped to the door to the cockpit, where Marvelous stood, out of his suit now.

"I guess so." Joe moved to sit on the couch while Marvelous sat in the captain's chair. Navi glanced between the two of them before flying to land on the back of the chair. "Mind if I ask you something?"

"Depends what it is."

Joe leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and keeping his eyes on his hands. "Why did you help me? It couldn't have just been the way I fought."

Silence for only a few seconds, then Marvelous chuckled a bit. "That was part of it. I guess I was curious, too… when I heard them call you a traitor."

Joe glanced up. "What?"

Marvelous shrugged. "Going against Zangyack is a pretty gutsy decision, even more so if you do it when you're working for them. Guess I wanted to get to know who else got on their bad side." He leaned back in the chair, shifting as if seeking comfort. "So, I'm a pirate and I screw them over every chance I get. What'd you do to piss 'em off?"

It was Joe's turn to go silent, his eyes returning to his hands. He felt a bit sick, remembering the order that had finally opened his eyes to the reality of Zangyack.

"_Kill them all!" _

He shook his head before the memory went any further. "They ordered me to kill children." From the corner of his eye, he saw Marvelous' gaze focus on him. "I refused, and attacked my commander when he tried to do it instead. So he beat me, branded me a traitor, and stuck the collar on my neck." None of these were pleasant memories, but he kept the rest of the story close to him. He didn't want to talk about Cid. "I don't even know what happened to those kids." The whole city had been crawling with soldiers. He'd probably only delayed the inevitable.

"These kids…" Something in Marvelous' tone made Joe look up again. "Two girls and a boy? About this high?" He held his hand, palm-down, at what would have been their hip height.

"Yes. How did you—"

"I met them." Marvelous looked at the wall, leaning back again with his fingertips resting against each other. "Funny. When they said a soldier saved them, I just assumed it was someone from the planet."

It took a while for that to sink in. They'd survived! "So they're okay?"

"Yeah. I was there when they found their parents at the evacuation site. A lot of the Novissians survived."

Joe couldn't believe what he was hearing, but Marvelous had no reason to lie. He leaned back, practically slumped into the back of the couch. "That's great…" So it hadn't been for nothing. Someone besides him had survived the mess he'd caused.

They sat in silence for a while longer, and then Marvelous stood up abruptly, headed for the console. "Anyway, we need to find a good, populated planet without a Zangyack presence."

Joe blinked, then stood up to better see the searches flicking across the view screen. "What for?"

Marvelous eyed him with disapproval… No, he was eyeing his _uniform_. "Well, we need to get you a new wardrobe."

#

And so begins Joe's adventure as GokaiBlue! Wanted to hit a few notes here, like Key Road and Joe and Marvelous learning each other's names, and just how the hell long is it gonna take the other four Gokaigers to figure out the ranger keys anyway.

Also, special bonus game: can anyone tell me what Marvelous does, on the Galleon, this chapter that he did not do throughout Lone Red? =D R&R!


	2. New Life

**Real life keeps rearing up and kicking me in the tail. I've got fics to update, go away need for employment _ **

This chapter's planet was named by Animefreak99-06, one of two to answer the bonus question from last chapter. And I love the name so squee~

#

Joe studied himself in the single mirror in 'his' room. It was a simple set-up: bed, wardrobe, chest at the foot of the bed. And he'd had to get a layer of dust off most of it before it became useable. Clearly the Galleon was made to be crewed by more than the three pirates it had previously carried. But that was a topic he wasn't going to bring up.

The image the mirror presented him set off a much more occupying thought process anyway. Marvelous had lent him some clothes until they could find a suitable planet to pick some up from, so Joe was staring at himself in a pair of black slacks and a white long-sleeve that were close enough to his size to work, but so far from what he was used to wearing that it looked foreign to him anyway.

With a last shrug at his appearance, he headed back up to the main quarters to rejoin the other two. The second he got to the top of the stairs, Navi turned to look, and she broke into giggles. Marvelous, in turn, glanced over, but simply shrugged before returning his attention to the console and view screen. Navi quieted, abashed. "Sorry."

"It's fine." Of course Mavelous' clothes looked odd on him; the captain was both shorter and narrower than Joe, and these were hardly a style Joe would have chosen for himself. He crossed to stand on the other side of the stairs and eye the view screen. "Any luck?"

"Yeah." Marvelous brought a planet up on the screen, predominantly covered by large, red oceans. On the visible side Joe counted the edges of three continents. One in the central region, mostly dark blue, and two more, closer to each of the poles. On those, the areas furthest north and south were a frozen orange. "It's called Siragos. I've been there before, for three of the Gekiranger keys."

"And Zangyack has no interest?"

"Haven't reached this system yet. The Siragosians don't do a lot of space travel, but they're pretty accommodating." Marvelous sat in the captain's chair. "Should be there in an hour or so."

"And after we're done there?" Joe took a seat on the couch, fishing his mobirate from his pants pocket to be set next to him.

Marvelous, in turn, took something out of his coat pocket. Joe only had to glance to notice it was the other Gokaiger keys. "We've still gotta find people to use these."

"Find three more people willing to stick their necks out for treasure?" Joe leaned back, frowning at the green, yellow, and pink ranger keys as Marvelous returned them to his pocket. "That's not going to be easy. Not many people are crazy enough to risk going against Zangyack."

Marvelous shrugged. "Well, we can't be the only two idiots in the universe."

~~~

The Siragosians were more than accommodating. By Joe's standards, they were downright welcoming. When the Galleon dropped its twin anchors and the two pirates descended (Navi opting to stay behind with the ship), the most they got were curious looks and smiles from a few onlookers. He raised a brow and glanced at his captain. "You weren't kidding..."

Marvelous smiled. "What, like I'd lie? Let's go."

They'd landed in the largest city they could find on the central continent, and it was busy. In addition to the normal-looking natives, several more unique species were among the pedestrians they had to dodge. Joe wasn't surprised when the first clothing store they found had an attendant who gave them directions based on limb number and body shape. Upright biped wear was apparently floors three and four.

When they got to the third floor, a Siragosian worker was waiting for them with a bright smile on her face. "Welcome! Do you need help with anything?"

Joe glanced at Marvelous, but the captain was pointing at him while looking at the girl. "He needs clothes." … That answered that, then. Marvelous was no more familiar or comfortable with clothes shopping than Joe was.

The worker seemed happy enough to accommodate, at least. "I'm sure we can find a few things. Let's see…" She walked a slow circle around him, studying him with such intensity that he was starting to feel like a museum exhibit by the time she stopped and nodded decisively. "Right. Could you follow me please?"

Over the next ten minutes, Joe was led around the store practically by the wrist, occasionally answering questions (whether they were about sizes or just asking his opinion), and ending up with a dozen or more outfits put into a fitting room. He also learned that his helper's name was Rizli.

By the time she led him back to the fitting room, the outfit number was closer to two dozen. He had to admit she had a good eye. It would have taken him hours to do what she'd done in minutes. And now he had clothes that were the proper size and didn't instantly connect him to universe-spanning despots.

When he came out of the fitting room (with an armload of clothing that Rizli took to the front), he had Marvelous' clothes over one arm and a new pair of black pants under a shirt that faded from purple up through white. Only then did he spot Marvelous, leaning on the wall across from him. "Hey, Joe. Catch."

Joe barely got his hand up in time to avoid getting the garment in the face. It was a blue leather jacket... with, quite frankly, more zippers than he would have thought possible on any single article of clothing. "What's this?"

"Try it. You're GokaiBlue now, right?"

He shrugged into the jacket and adjusted it. It fit well, and he transferred his mobirate and ranger key to the inside pocket. He raised a brow at Marvelous. "Is this so you don't forget which key you gave me?"

Marvelous snorted. "Shut up. Come on."

Joe wasn't sure what to wonder at: why clothes cost so much, or how Marvelous thought absolutely nothing of spending that kind of money. They walked back through the city with four bags (no matter how hard Rizli had tried to pack them efficiently), and Joe realized something he hadn't said despite everything Marvelous had done. He couldn't quite bring himself to look at the man when he said it, though. "Thanks."

He caught Marvelous' grin from the corner of his eye. "Don't mention it. It's worth it just so I don't have to walk around with someone in that uniform."

It was a good point… and it made a hell of a difference. Joe wasn't used to being smiled at, being treated as just another person. His world had been suspicious glances from his peers, cowering from ordinary people, and beatings from his superiors. Here, he was just some guy who had obviously not updated his wardrobe in half a decade.

His thoughts were derailed when a sudden, extra weight attached to his right arm, almost yanking him over before he caught himself. "Wow, mister, you're so tall!"

He tracked the voice down to a Siragosian child whose hands were latched onto his wrist like claws. The young boy was grinning, and Joe didn't really know what to make of it. "Uh…"

"Hey, hey." The boy tugged on the arm, ignoring the way the shopping bag Joe carried bounced against the pirate's leg. "How'd you get so tall? I wanna be tall!"

"I didn't…" What the heck was with this kid? Joe sent a desperate look to Marvelous, but the red Gokaiger was being exactly no help, standing by and smirking at the sight.

"Ernai!" The unmistakable bark of an annoyed mother spared him from the ordeal, as a short woman barreled in and pulled the child away from Joe. "Don't bother the gentleman!" She looked at Joe and bowed. "So sorry. He wandered off while I was browsing." One hand on her son's head forced him to bow alongside her. "Apologize, Ernai!"

The boy flailed, managed to duck out from his mother's arm before sulking at Joe. "… Sorry."

Joe smiled. "It's all right." He glanced between the two before bending to set one bag on the ground so he could muss the child's hair. "I'll say this though. No matter how tall you get, your mom can still boss you around. It's her privilege."

The boy gave a dismayed cry before his mother took his hand and, with another bow, led him away. Joe picked the bag up again, watching them go. Anywhere else, a child would never have dared wander far from mother, let alone approach him.

Marvelous stepped up to his side. "What's wrong, Joe?"

"Nothing, really." He shook his head, turning and starting to walk again. "I'm just not used to it… a planet without Zangyack."

Marvelous kept pace with him, shrugging. "Yeah. Seems like there's less and less of them around. Let's get back to the Galleon."

They made it with no other delays (except Marvelous detouring them to a food stall once), and dropped the clothes off in the cabins before going to the main quarters where Navi was waiting. "We're back, Bird."

"Welcome home!" She flew over to land on Marvelous' shoulder, only for him to flick her in the beak.

"Haven't been slacking, have you? We need another fortune telling."

Joe frowned. "Fortune telling?"

"It's how we found you… sort of." Marvelous sighed, sitting down. "Bird here spits out some vague prophecy, and it points us in the right direction… eventually. She's not very reliable."

So that was what she'd meant when she mentioned strangers. At least, he assumed that was part of it. "So that's how we're going to find our next member?"

"That's the plan! Let's Treasure Navigate!" Navi spread her wings, flapped twice, and shot straight into the ceiling so hard that Joe winced. "You must be sure to steal from the right places…" She drifted back to the floor with a thunk.

The ex-Zangyack stared for a few seconds. "… How's that supposed to help?"

Marvelous made a helpless, one-handed gesture to the ceiling. "See what I mean?"

# 

Whoo, this turned into a bit of a 'get it done' chapter, but I wanted to start showing just how fish-out-of-water Joe is. Despite the prophecy, we're not on the road to Luka just yet! Joe and Marvelous have a few more things to do.

PS: No, I didn't forget about Joe's necklace. We'll get there.


	3. Target

**I think Joe's resisting me on this fic because he knows I plan on being mean to him in later ones. Sigh.**

#

Joe ran. His lungs were starting to burn, and he knew his leg muscles weren't going to thank him later, but he didn't let his pace slacken, sometimes dodging around pedestrians, sometimes knocking them right over with muttered apologies he was sure they didn't hear. It was a back alley, so there wasn't much traffic, but it was enough to be troublesome, blocking his view as he tried to gauge the distance to the other end.

Bursting out onto the main road so fast he almost tripped in surprise, he skidded to a halt, his Gokai Sabre appearing in his hand automatically. Still getting used to that. In front of him, people screamed and scrambled to either side as two motorcycles, bearing not only their riders but several chests strapped over the back, came roaring along.

Joe tensed, left hand at the small of his back, right gripping the sabre's hilt tightly. The motorcycle on his right was approaching first. He slashed out, the sabre cutting into the front wheel and halfway through the engine before he jerked it free. The left bike tried to veer, but Joe was already up again, kicking the rider right out of his seat. The bike crashed onto its side, carried on by momentum.

He glanced over his shoulder. The bike he'd cut was on fire, but several Siragosians were already dousing it. The other one had crashed into and destroyed several street-side stalls, but it didn't look like it had hurt anyone. He turned his attention to the two riders, who were just starting to get their feet under them. "Even on a peaceful planet like this, there are guys like you. I _was_ having a good day." He moved closer, pointing the tip of his sabre at their heads, but they'd drawn guns from their coats.

"Look who thinks he's so cool with a sharpened stick!" The one Joe had kicked levelled his gun at the former Zangyack's face. Joe eyed the barrel and raised a brow.

"You two are going to get yourselves hurt."

"What the hell can you do to us?"

"Not me." Joe's eyes flicked sideways, to the flash of red behind the two criminals. "Him."

They turned, and Marvelous smiled, the butt of his Gokai Gun coming down hard on one man's head. Joe leapt forward, punching the back of the second man's skull with the hilt of his sabre. They both went down, and Marvelous lifted his eyes to Joe. "I didn't think you'd actually run fast enough to cut them off."

"The bikes weren't that fast." Joe rested the flat of his sabre against his shoulder, looking down at the unconscious thieves. "Now what do we do with them?"

"Don't know..." Marvelous ran his fingers through his hair, his gun having vanished to whatever no-space their weapons went to when they weren't being used. "Damn... really don't want to carry them."

"Excuse me!" They both turned. Headed towards them was a woman in a sharp red uniform, several more officials having appeared beside the motorcycles. The one approaching them stopped and smiled. "Are you the ones who stopped these criminals?"

Joe lowered his arm, letting his sabre disappear. "I guess we are."

She bowed. "Thank you so much!" Rising back to meet their eyes, she smiled. "You've saved irreplaceable artifacts from the city's museum!"

They exchanged looks, neither having had the slightest idea about just what the criminal had stolen. Marvelous answered. "You don't need to thank us. We only went after them because they nearly ran us over in the middle of our shopping."

"Saving the artifacts was just a coincidence." Joe avoided looking at the woman's eyes, though it didn't seem that her cheer had faded any with the revelation.

"Even if that's the case, you still did our city a great service, and I thank you." She took a pad of paper from one pocket, wrote down a few things in a language Joe couldn't read, and then tore off the sheet and handed it to him. "There's a bounty on these two. Take this to the main station and you can collect it."

When she turned her attention to the slowly-awakening thieves, they took their opportunity and walked away, Joe examining the indecipherable language on the paper.

After asking for directions twice to find the station, and then once more to relocate the shop where Marvelous had left their purchases, the two of them were on their way back to the Galleon, actually richer than they'd been when they'd left that morning. The Siragosians they'd met were so trusting, and why wouldn't they be? Trust was easy, Joe supposed, when the universe had yet to show them its cruelty. Their peace couldn't last, but Joe wouldn't be the one to break their happiness. "I can see why you chose to land here." He slung the exercise bench they'd bought a bit higher on his shoulder as he spoke.

"Yeah. It's a good place to visit if you don't want to run into trouble." Marvelous shifted the two bags in his hands, mostly additional stuff for the galley. "Speaking of trouble, how're you doing with the ranger keys?"

"I know pretty much all of mine well enough to call them now, since Navi's been helping me." The robot had a basic knowledge of what each key was capable of, though not enough to satisfy the strategist in him. "It would be easier if we could test them in combat."

"Why don't we?" Joe raised a brow at Marvelous. The captain was smiling. "Sure we could find a place to practice before we leave this planet."

"Against each other?" He'd seen Marvelous fight. The man was reckless bordering on stupid, but he had the skill to back up what would normally be bad decisions.

"Unless you think we could find volunteers around here." Marvelous' smile became a smirk as they approached the Galleon, held in place by its twin anchors buried in city grounds (amazing that they got away with that, really).

Shifting the weight of the exercise bench again, Joe grabbed his chain with his free hand. "If you think you can handle it."

~~~

It hadn't taken long to put everything away and find an open area on the planet. The ground was rough black, patches of weeds ranging from navy to turquoise struggling to poke through the bed rock. Joe figured it was better that way. Fewer things to catch fire, going off of what Navi had told him about the various keys in Marvelous' colour.

They stood facing each other, mobirates in hand. Already the energy was completely different from the training Joe was used to. He drew his key and flipped open his mobirate in almost the same moment Marvelous did. "Gokai Change!"

The Gokaiger suits had barely materialized before Marvelous had another key out. "Gokai Change!" \

**Zyuranger**!

He charged. "RyuGekiKen!" The slim blade slashed for Joe's chest, but GokaiBlue jumped back, mind already whirring. He needed better defense, and knew just the key for the job.

"Gokai Change!"

**Abaranger**!

"Tricerabunker!" The RyuGekiKen crashed against his shield. Joe swung out, knocking Marvelous' arm wide before swiping for the chest with the shield's forward horn. Marvelous staggered, but caught an answering blow across Joe's left arm before they jumped back from each other.

Joe banished the TriceraBunker and drew his laser. He fired, and Marvelous deflected all but two of the shots. They grazed his left arm as he let the RyuGekiKen vanish and drew a new key. "Let's see what this one can do. Gokai Change!"

**Gaoranger**!

"Gaomanebuster, final mode!" Marvelous took aim with the miniature cannon. No way the TriceraBunker was stopping that.

Joe drew a new key. "Gokai Change!"

**Magiranger**!

Marvelous braced, holding the cannon steady before squeezing the trigger. "Gao!"

"Jinga majuna!" The words came to Joe without his thinking about it, magic forming a translucent blue force field in front of him that took the blazing sphere from Marvelous' cannon.

The shield broke, and Marvelous was already rushing him, the Lion Fang slashing his shoulder. He staggered, but stabilized himself in time to kick Marvelous back before the red warrior could get another attack in. Rather than give Marvelous time to recover, Joe extended his Magistick. "Blue Splash!" Water burst from the ground under Marvelous' feet, knocking him backwards. He turned the fall into a back flip, avoiding the final geyser.

As soon as his feet touched the ground again, Marvelous had another key out. "Gokai Change!"

**Hurricaneger**!

He drew the sword from the sheath across his back. "Hayatemaru!"

Swords. Good, Joe had a key he wanted to try out for this style. "Gokai Change!"

**Shinkenger**!

"Shinkenmaru!" He blocked Marvelous' opening strike, twisting the Hayatemaru to one side and putting the flat of his Shinkenmaru across Marvelous' abdomen. Marvelous recovered, the Hayatemaru swinging down to stop a scant inch from Joe's neck. They paused like that, each listening to the other's quick breaths, and then Marvelous chuckled and stepped back. Joe mirrored the motion, their weapons disappearing as their transformations released.

Marvelous stretched, rolling his shoulders before pressing a hand against the part of his chest the Tricerabunker had struck. "Not much for pulling your hits, are you?"

Joe smirked, flexing his own shoulders. "It's not something Zangyack teaches, no." He became aware of just how tired he was, far more than he should have been, for the duration of their fight. "We'll have to get used to using the keys."

"Yeah." Marvelous' tone said that he'd noticed the added drain as well, and the two of them headed back to where the Galleon rested above the nearby cliffs.

"I've been thinking about Navi's prophecy." Joe broached the subject as they moved into the ship's shadow, and Marvelous raised a brow.

"About stealing from the right places?" They grabbed the waiting chains, conversation held as they were drawn back up to the Galleon.

Once they were on their way back to the main quarters, Navi flying along behind, Joe continued. "Why don't we target Zangyack?"

Marvelous' eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Hell of a suggestion."

"It's not like we're on their good side to begin with." Joe shrugged, climbing the stairs to the central room of the ship. "And I can't think of a better way to find someone else for this crazy dream of yours."

A smile curved GokaiRed's lips. "I take it you have an idea of where to start?"

Joe smirked in turn. "I might."

#

THIS JUST IN I kind of hate writing fight scenes for Gokaiger like dear god the Gokai Changes having to look up the capabilities of literally EVERY RANGER EVER and then figure out the strategic minds of the Gokaigers themselves and decide which keys they'd want to try first. So that's why this chapter took so long and I am very sorry and will try to get better at this Gokai fight scene stuff I promise.

Also PSA for any of my readers who have tumblr, do feel free to add an x to my pen name (loonriderx), run to my blog and fill my askbox with nagging for updates. Because I work better when someone is looming over me waiting to read the thing.


	4. Perspective

**Hey guess what this thing hasn't died despite not being updated in a year I am so sorry please forgive me.**

#

The planet was larger than Siragos, but less verdant. Its three giant land masses were splotched with browns and greys even viewed from orbit, creating a strange contrast to the rich blue of its oceans. From the captain's chair, Marvelous eyed the screen where the planet was displayed and then glanced at Joe, who sat on the couch. "So you were stationed here?"

"For a while, before the attack on Novissimum." Joe stood, crossing to the console to eye the display. "It's called Galus, only became part of the empire a few years ago, before the Galusians had even achieved space travel themselves." He tapped a few buttons, bringing up the planet's mineral makeup. "They didn't have the technology to access the raw materials under the planet's crust, so Zangyack moved in and provided it. Now it's a hot spot for drilling up and refining minerals to make fuel. That saved the economy, so it wasn't hard for Zangyack to take leadership afterward."

Joe glanced back at Marvelous and found the captain frowning. "So no one even put up a fight."

The former soldier shrugged, cynicism sneaking into his voice. "Anyone that wanted to couldn't afford it. Zangyack created cheap jobs that didn't close the wealth gap any, but even the majority of the poor don't want to fight it. It's better than where they were before."

Marvelous stood, his arms crossing as he looked at the screen for a moment and then back at Joe. "Is that why we're here? Lighten the purses at the top a little?"

"That's the idea." Joe nodded, using the console to scan the surface, highlighting several zones on the continents. "Things won't have changed much since I was here, so I know where to go, but..."

"We can't let them find the Galleon!" Navi chimed in as she flew past Marvelous and landed on the console next to Joe's hand. "Is there a good place to hide it?"

He frowned, eyed the planet's surface. "There's lots of areas that are suitable, but it'd mean a long walk to any of the cities."

"Nah, it's fine. We can get off closer to a city." Marvelous bopped Navi on the head. "And then you can take the ship somewhere they won't find it, Bird."

"I'm not a bird!"

Joe ignored the rebuttal he'd heard at least two dozen times and looked at Navi. "But you can fly the ship, right?"

"No problem!" She flew up to his eye level and raised her right wing in salute. "I can keep it safe while you guys are gone."

Joe leaned back from her sudden proximity, but he smiled a bit. For a robot, she was pretty reliable. "Okay, then we'll head here." He highlighted a small chunk of the largest continent. "Vikdos is the capital of the Empire on Galus. That's where the imperial bank will be."

He saw Marvelous nod, but the captain was frowning. "You sure this is okay? People down there are gonna recognize you."

Joe shrugged. It wasn't like that hadn't occurred to him already. "By now every corner of the empire knows that a traitor escaped; they'll recognize me anywhere." After a second's brooding on that thought, he smiled. "Anyway, we're pirates. We're not supposed to expect warm welcomes, right?"

That got a short laugh from his captain. "That's true. Well, let's go then." He tapped at the console, and the constant, subtle vibrations of the ship's engines shifted ever so slightly. They were heading in to land on Galus.

Navi knew what she was doing; the Galleon was out of sight among the clouds before Joe and Marvelous had even reached the wide road leading into the city. Giant transport vehicles, both passenger and industrial, passed by every few minutes. Joe doubted anyone in them even noticed the two of them.

Once they got into the industrial sector of Vikdos' outskirts, that started to change. Workers in the yards eyed them through the fence. Dozens of eyes, young and old, peered from the gaps in ramshackle huts crammed together in between the larger factories and refineries. Joe said nothing, though he wondered if his own face matched the stony expression he saw on Marvelous'.

After a while the factories gave way to storage buildings and manufacturers, and then to proper, clean shops and houses as they made their way into a commercial area. Here, too, they were watched, but these weren't fleeting glances from the cautious. Rather, these were hard, lingering stares from suspicious eyes that knew the two men didn't belong.

They didn't alter their pace, but Joe caught Marvelous' eye just as the captain chortled slightly. "Bit of a change from Siragos, huh?"

Joe shrugged. "It's what I expected. Come on, it's this way." He turned down one of the busier streets. It was strange, walking down the streets without a small cadre of fellow cadets around him, alongside their squad leader and whatever Gormin were assigned that day. The healthy respect Galusians showed Zangyack was different from the suspicion shown to him now: people seemed more worried about him now that he was an unknown.

"You!" Joe turned to the voice to find a middle-aged man glaring at him, the exclamation having drawn several other people's attention. The man was standing next to a shop front, and pasted on the windows were wanted posters of Zangyack's enemies. Joe wasn't surprised to find himself and Marvelous in just a quick glance.

"Did you need something?" His voice was level, though he could already see their limited options for escape.

"You're the guy... The traitor! You turned against Zangyack!" And there it was. The crowd around them started murmuring, moving to close around them, and the initial accuser looked around until he saw a squad of Gormin and Sugormin round a corner. "Hey! Guards! Guards, over here!"

It only took a split second of eye contact for Joe to understand that Marvelous had the same idea he did. They turned and ran, bursting past the edge of the crowd with the angry shouts of civilians and Zangyack soldiers behind them. The element of surprise gave them a head start, and after a few seconds of running Joe felt a grab on his jacket as Marvelous pulled him sideways into an alley behind the shops. The captain's hand was hovering near the inside pockets of his jacket, but Joe frowned. "There's too many civilians."

"Yeah." Marvelous' hand dropped as the shouts of the Gormin and Sugormin got closer. "We can split up and lose them." He made to step out of the alley, but Joe's hand snapped out, catching Marvelous' wrist.

"What if one of us gets caught? How's the other supposed to help?" He wouldn't go through that again, running away with the sound of shots and screams behind him.

Marvelous stared at him, and then glanced down at his own ensnared wrist. They only had seconds before the squad caught up. "You have a better idea?"

Joe glanced around; there was a short fence, guarding the area behind the stores, next to them. "This way." He let Marvelous go and ran, vaulting over the fence and waiting only long enough to hear his captain land behind him before taking off.

The sound of splintering wood behind them told him their pursuers had taken the easier route, and Joe dodged around a supply truck with Marvelous on his heels. Buildings they'd passed at a crawl before now whipped past in a blur, and Joe chanced a look behind him. Only the Gormin were pursuing, and they weren't very efficient at navigating the obstacles. But if they were pursuing, the Sugormin were probably trying to cut them off at the next main road in their path.

Which meant they really underestimated how many ways there were to get around in the alleys. "This way." Joe made a sharp left into the even narrower space between two buildings, Marvelous following. He felt the sleeve of his jacket nearly snag on the edges of the building, but in seconds they'd broken through to a different street and dodged through a crowd to a new alley.

More Gormin were lost in the crowd of civilians, but of course further outcry at the obvious criminals added to their pursuers. They kept running, Joe guiding them through twists and turns with no destination in mind beyond the outer industrial area, where losing anyone would be easy.

Joe couldn't guess how many more seconds of sprinting had gone by when he saw a loose panel in one of the buildings they were running towards. "Marvelous!" He glanced at his captain to catch the acknowledging nod, and then he jumped sideways, pulling the panel away from the rest of the wall. Marvelous ducked into the resulting hole, and Joe followed before pulling the metal back into place.

Listening until the sound of their pursuers faded into the distance, the taller pirate sighed and leaned against the inside of the rickety, patched-up wall. "Well, it's not like we expected this to be easy."

Marvelous, who'd been leaned over to catch his breath, stood straight again and grinned. "More fun this way."

Any wry reply he might've made was put on hold when Joe took a moment to look at their surroundings. The storage house was small and disused, but several barrels and boxes had been deliberately positioned, each with smaller cans either stacked atop or scattered around them, in a line around the middle. Standing near those, and watching the two pirates with narrowed eyes, was a young woman in old but fairly well-kept clothes, a slingshot clutched in one hand. A stone was already loaded, trading targets between Joe and Marvelous as the captain also turned to look at her. "Who're you two? Zangyack?"

Joe almost laughed. "Hardly." He eyed the slingshot, aimed at him now that he'd spoken. "And you wouldn't do much damage with that if we were."

Her eyes likewise went to her weapon, and then she swung around to face the set-up behind her and let the stone fly. It struck the central can of a stack on top of a barrel, and the whole lot of them tumbled down with a great clattering. Pulling another rock from a small sack tied to her waist, she loaded it and turned back to them. "So who are you?"

A snicker from beside him led Joe's eyes to Marvelous, who was making a show of raising his hands in surrender. "I'm Marvelous, he's Joe. Hold your fire, we're not dangerous."

Joe could think of a few people who'd argue that point, but the girl lowered her weapon and Marvelous dropped his hands back to his sides, so he figured it best not to mention it. Instead, he addressed the girl. "And you are?"

"Bulma." She finally glanced behind them at the loose panel, seemed to take in their lack of breath. The suspicious glare eased into something like curiosity. "You guys aren't bringing trouble to my training area, are you?"

"Nah." Marvelous waved off the question and stepped past her to the cans scattered across the ground, crouching to pick one up. "Trouble's too stupid to figure out where we went."

Joe stayed by the wall, listening to be sure that 'trouble' didn't end up coming back for a second look around. Bulma had relaxed considerably, and snorted at Marvelous' words. "So you were running from Zangyack?"

"Smart girl." Rising back to his feet, Marvelous tossed the can back and forth between his hands. "So, what're you doing shooting tin cans with a sling shot anyway?"

She stuck out her bottom lip and threw her shoulders back. "It's target practice! I have to make sure I'm good enough for when I can get a gun."

Joe looked up. "Why do you need one of those?"

That seemed to catch her off guard, and she averted her eyes first to the ground and then to their surroundings, as if she could see through the rickety walls to the industrial slums beyond. "I'm not going to sit back and ignore it like everyone else on this rock."

Marvelous spun the can he was holding one more time before setting it down on one of the barrels and looking at Joe. "Anyone snooping around?"

Raising an eyebrow, Joe took a second to turn toward the wall and push aside the loose panel to see outside. With the exception of a few bugs picking over some roadkill Joe didn't care to linger on, the alley was deserted. Sounds were all coming from a distance, so he pulled the panel back into place and turned back to Marvelous. "No, it's clear."

Before Joe could ask why he wanted to know, Marvelous pulled out his gun and held it out, grip first, to Bulma. "Here. Give it a try." He nodded toward the can he'd set down.

Joe raised a brow, and Bulma openly stared at the weapon for a long ten seconds before reaching out to take it. She glanced at it, held uncertainly in her left hand, then back at Marvelous. "Why?"

He stepped around behind her. "Just try it."

Moving to stand next to Marvelous, Joe frowned as Bulma raised her arm, the gun held loosely and a bit crooked. He said nothing. If Marvelous wasn't correcting her, why should he? Bulma pulled the trigger, the gun jerked in recoil and nearly fell from her hand. She fumbled, managed to regain hold of it, and looked at her target. The can hadn't moved. Tucking the gun under her arm, she rubbed her wrist and flexed her fingers. "Ow..."

Marvelous stepped forward, held out his hand until she gave the gun back. "Pretty different from a slingshot, huh?" He tucked the gun inside his jacket, where Joe knew it would disappear. "To use a gun, you gotta practice with a gun."

Bulma whirled on him, so fast that Joe tensed despite knowing she wasn't a threat (and Marvelous could surely take care of himself). "Then I'll get one! I'll steal one if I have to!" Her fists clenched, shaking at her sides. "I'm not gonna let Zangyack do whatever they want! Working in their stupid factory got Dad sick! I'm gonna get a gun and protect him and my brothers!"

So her family was her motivation. He could understand that. Joe opened his mouth to speak, but was preempted by Marvelous as the captain let out a gusty sigh. "Okay, okay, I get it. Hey, how about a deal?" His lips twitched into a little smirk. "You let us hang out in your training area until nightfall, and we'll get you a proper gun."

Joe turned wide eyes on Marvelous. "What?"

Marvelous didn't even look at him, and Bulma stepped between them in order to squint up at GokaiRed. "_You're_ gonna steal a gun for me? From Zangyack?"

The smirk became more obvious. "Been stealing from them all my life." He extended his hand. "Deal?"

She considered a bit long, and then she reached out and grasped his hand. "Deal."

It was Joe's turn to sigh as he eyed the glint in his companion's eye. Why did he get the feeling this was going to be more trouble than Marvelous made it seem?

#

Character trivia: No cookie for guessing the reference made by Bulma's name. She uses the 'atashi' pronoun and speaks mostly informally. Lucky for her, Joe and Marvelous aren't the sort of people who care about that.

Whoo! Our adventure on Galus is gonna be split between this and chapter five. I'll do my best to have that chapter up before a year's out this time around.


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